The Orthodox Church was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ, and maintains an unbroken continuity of faith and practice that began with the Twelve Apostles at Pentecost.  For nearly 2,000 years the Orthodox Church has maintained and protected the doctrine and worship established by the Apostles and articulated by the leaders of the early Church.

Today, Orthodoxy consists of a family of 15 self-governing churches that span the globe.  They are not held together by a central organization or a single figure wielding power, but are united by a common agreement about the faith, and through sacramental communion.  St. Andrew’s is a mission parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (“ROCOR”), an autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church, originally established by people displaced by the 1917 communist revolution and seeking freedom in Europe, North America, South America, Australia, and elsewhere.

We worship God in Trinity, glorifying equally the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; that He is truly God, of one essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  We believe that Christ Incarnate is also truly man, like us in all respects except sin.  We worship the Holy Spirit as Lord and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father. We honor and venerate the saints as those who have grown “unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).  We ask their intercessions before God, knowing that they live in Christ and that nothing, not even death, breaks the bond of love we share with them in Christ.  Of the saints, the Ever-Virgin Mary, the Theotokos (Greek: “Birthgiver of God”), holds a special place as “more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim” (cf. Luke 1:48).

The Orthodox Church recognizes seven common sacraments.  Baptism, by triple immersion, and Chrismation are usually administered together.  Chrismation, following Baptism, anoints one with the “Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” Through the Holy Spirit we are able to live the fullness of the Christian life.  In Holy Communion one receives the very Body and Blood of Christ for remission of sins, the sanctification of soul and body, and life eternal.  In Holy Confession the Christian, when truly repentant, receives from Christ, through the confessor, the forgiveness of sins; the priest witnesses the confession but does not act “in the person of Christ.”

Ordination, Marriage, and Holy Unction complete the seven common, New Testament Sacraments.  By the laying on of hands (Ordination) a bishop transmits divine grace to the person being ordained, linking him to the uninterrupted succession of Orthodox clergy from the time of Christ to the present.  Divine grace also sanctifies the union of man and woman in matrimony—Orthodox parish priests are usually married, but the marriage must precede ordination.  The Sacrament of Holy Unction brings healing to the infirmities of both body and soul, as God sees fit, through anointing with oil.

One of the distinctive characteristics of the Holy Orthodox Church is its changelessness, its loyalty to the past, its sense of living continuity with the ancient Church. This idea of living continuity may be summed up in one word: Tradition.  As St. John of Damascus says, "We do not change the everlasting boundaries which our fathers have set, but we keep the Tradition, just as we received it."  To an Orthodox Christian, Tradition means the Holy Bible; it means the Creed; it means the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils and the writings of the Fathers; it means the Canons, the Service Books, the Holy Icons, etc.  In essence, it means the whole system of doctrine, ecclesiastical government, worship and art which Orthodoxy has articulated over the ages.  We take special note that for the Orthodox, the Holy Bible forms a part of Holy Tradition, but does not lie outside of it. One would be in error to suppose that Scripture and Tradition are two separate and distinct sources of Christian Faith, as some do, since there is, in reality, only one source; and the Holy Bible exists and found its formulation within Tradition.

As Orthodox, however, while giving it due respect, we realize that not everything received from the past is of equal value. The Holy Scriptures, the Creed and the dogmatic and doctrinal definitions of the Ecumenical Councils hold the primary place in Holy Tradition and cannot be discarded or revised. The other parts of Holy Tradition are not placed on an equal level, nor do they possess the same authority as the above. The decrees of the Councils since the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) obviously do not stand on the same level as the Nicene Creed, nor do the writings of, for example, the Byzantine theologians, hold equal rank with St. John's Gospel.

Here we must also distinguish between Tradition and traditions.  At the Council of Carthage in 257, one bishop remarked, "The Lord said, I am Truth.  He did not say, I am custom."  Many traditions that have been handed down are merely cultural variations, theological or pious opinions, or simply plain mistakes.  Orthodox loyalty to Tradition is not something mechanical or lifeless, however.  Tradition is a personal encounter with Christ in the Holy Spirit; it is not only kept by the Church, it lives in the Church--it is the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church.  Thus, Tradition must be seen and experienced from within, as it is a living experience of the Holy Spirit.  While inwardly unchanging (since God does not change), Tradition constantly assumes new forms, supplementing the old, but not superseding it.  Our Lord tells us that when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth (John 16:13) and this promise forms the basis of Orthodox respect for Holy Tradition.

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, also known by the acronym “ROCOR,” or sometimes the “Russian Orthodox Church Abroad,” is a semi-independent part of the Russian Orthodox Church.  ROCOR was established in the early 1920s initially due disruption of the central church authority in Moscow by the Russian Revolution.  Bishops and their exiled flocks migrated to western Europe, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, and South America.  In May 2007, following 80 years of separation and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate reestablished intercommunion and canonical relations.  ROCOR has around 400 parishes worldwide and an estimated membership of more than 400,000 people.  In the United States, over 230 parishes and 10 monasteries are spiritual homes to nearly 100,000 people.